On May 27, 2018—one week ago today—the heartbreaking news was that Gardner Dozois had died suddenly in a hospital of an infection at the age of seventy.

As most people in the science fiction and fantasy business know, Dozois was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine for many years, the editor of the indispensable Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies for an astounding thirty-seven years, and a published writer himself, most recently with stories in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the January-February 2018 issue with “Neanderthals“ (my story in that issue was “Aurelia”) and the May-June 2018 issue with “Unstoppable” (my story in that issue was “The Bicycle Whisperer”). His wife, the writer Susan Casper, had died after long and painful illnesses a year ago.

At the beginning of my writing career, Dozois acquired four stories of mine for Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, enabling me to build a publishing resume that served as a platform for me to sell my first novel, Arachne, to William Morrow in hardcover, in trade paperback by Eos, in mass market paperback by AvoNova, and in another trade paperback edition by Bast Books. Nine novels have followed, a short story collection, several screenplays, and a major movie deal based on the short story, “Tomorrow’s Child”, published in Omni Magazine.

I’m eternally grateful for Gardner for giving me a chance back in the day. Although Asimov’s, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Analog are small-format magazines, don’t pay much, and have limited distribution, the competition among writers—even established writers with many novels to their names—to be published in those forums is fierce.

I met Gardner only briefly three times, after I’d sold stories to him—once at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Author-Editor Reception in New York; a second time at the WorldCon in San Francisco; and a third at the WorldCon in Los Angeles. He was gracious and friendly on all three occasions. Countless other writers and editors deemed him a dear friend and a regular at Science Fiction World Conventions (“WorldCons”) and other venues. A lively fixture who will be greatly missed.

And so. The first story I sold to Gardner was “Guardian,” about an African-American gallerist who must fight a brutal burglar preying on her condo building with voodoo. The next was “The Oniomancer,” about a punk Chinese-American bicycle messenger who finds an alien artifact on the street.

Finally, Gardner bought “Hummers,” about a woman dying of cancer who learns to reconcile herself to her impending death through Egyptian magic and the hummingbirds who visit her feeder. I remember walking up to Gardner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where he sat in the lobby at a table with a bunch of editors and thanking him for buying “Hummers.” And he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “That was a good story.” “Hummers” was nominated for the Nebula Award (the late Roger Zelazny voted for it) and chosen for the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 5th Annual Collection (St. Martin’s Press). The award-winning Terri Windling, one of the editors of the anthology, wrote a beautiful introduction. I’ve also published this as an ebook short story at Hummers (in Fifth Annual Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror) on BarnesandNoble, US Kindle, Canada Kindle, UK Kindle, Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords. Also on Kindle in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, and India.

So there you have it, my friends. Short stories are a part of the culture, a part of literature, an important way for writers to express themselves and for readers to appreciate their work and their consciousness.

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From the top left:“Teardrop” May-June 2015“Tomorrow Is A Lovely Day” November-December 2015“Anything For You” September-October 2016One Day in the Life of Alexa (Bast Books) May 2017

So there you have it, my friends. I’ll be doing an interview with the magazine regarding “The Bicycle Whisperer” in May or June. In meantime, enjoy the issue. If you’ve got a kind word to say about my story, please review it on your blogsite, review site, Facebook, Twitter, or wherever else you roam online.

My contributor’s two copies came in the mail on Wednesday. I spent yesterday looking over the magazine, reading several stories. The magazine will be on the newsstands as of May 1, but you subscribers may already be receiving your copy.

After Lisa Mason encountered a homeless teenager begging for money in the parking lot of her Piedmont grocery store, a character stepped out of her imagination and demanded that Mason write about her. The Lone Rangerette, her sentient bicycle, and her mobile AI may get her own YA novel in the future. Mason’s five-star novella, One Day in the Life of Alexa, was published in 2017 by Bast Books in print and an ebook. Visit her at www.lisamason.com for all her books, ebooks, stories, screenplays, interviews, blogs, cute cat pictures, and bespoke art and jewelry by her acclaimed artist husband, Tom Robinson.